In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood [Paperback]

Walter T. Brown (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1878026011 | ISBN-13: 978-1878026019 | Publication Date: September 1995

This understandable, comprehensive, and meticulously documented resource gives new insights that could revolutionize understandings of the beginnings of time and subsequent events.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The single most useful resource I know of on origins, bar none
Dr. Kent Davey, Senior Research Scientist, University of Texas --Dr. Kent Davey, University of Texas, Senior Research Scientist

Brown hydroplate theory directly challenges the current plate tectonics model and suggests a major revamping of geological events --Chalcedon Report

The most complete reference book I have encountered on the scientific aspects of origins
Dr. Stuart Patterson, former Academic Dean andProfessor of Chemistry, Furman University --Dr. Stuart Patterson, former Academic Dean and Chemistry Professor, Furman University --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Walt Brown received a PhD in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. He has taught college courses in physics, mathematics, and computer science. Brown is a retired Air Force full colonel, West Point graduate, and former Army Ranger and paratrooper. Assignments during his 21 years of military service included: Director of Benet Laboratories (a major research, development, and engineering facility), tenured associate professor at the US Air Force Academy, and Chief of Science and Technology Studies at the Air War College. For much of his life Walt Brown was an evolutionist, but after years of study, he became convinced of the scientific validity of creation and a global flood. Since retiring from the military, Brown has been the Director of the Center for Scientific Creation and has worked full time in research, writing, and teaching on origins. His biography is in "Christian Men of Science: Eleven Men Who Changed the World" by Mulfinger and Orozco. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Center for Scientific Creation (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878026011
• ISBN-13: 978-1878026019
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the timid, the faint-hearted or the cowardly, July 31, 2007

By 

S. Wilson (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

This review is based on the online version of the book, which I am relying on, pending the forthcoming 8th edition.

This is the kind of book that almost all reviewers give either five stars or one. I'm the first 3-star reviewer. It worked, right? You were curious enough to read this review out of the dozens of others.

Whether you find it persuasive or not, there can be no disagreement that this book by Dr Walt Brown (PhD MIT (Mechanical Engineering), Air Force Academy tenured professor (retired), Air Force Colonel (ret.), studied geology at Arizona State University), presents a theory which is stunning in the extent of its scope and the observed natural phenomena that it seeks to explain: from molten rock in the very depths of the earth to comets that traverse the far reaches of the solar system. One gets the distinct impression that Hydroplate Theory did not begin as an attempt to explain such a vast range of physical phenomena, but that it developed to do so, as one set of results connected with other observations and suggested new avenues of explanatory power.

Hydroplate Theory begins by postulating a set of initial conditions -- a vast subterranean water chamber sealed deep beneath a rock crust -- in a recently created earth. These set of initial conditions are not plucked from the blue, but are prompted by and consistent with a number of Biblical passages (obviously including the early chapters of Genesis, but also the Psalms and 2 Peter). Dr Brown is certainly not ashamed of his Christian faith. But as a scientific theory, Hydroplate Theory should stand or fall on its faithfulness to known physical laws (eg: conservation of matter-energy, the law of gravity, etc, etc) and its consistency with observed experimental and natural phenomena.

At this point, therefore, readers who do not accept the truth claims of the Bible can suspend their judgement, accept the posited initial conditions for the sake of exploring the argument as a 'what if' chain of physical reasoning. Those who have grown up on far-out science fiction have no excuse for being unable to exercise their mind's imagination in this way.

But this is not presented as a work of science fiction. On the contrary, Hydroplate Theory is a thoroughly serious effort to see what would happen if the laws of physics are applied to the set of initial conditions defined. The chain of events described is extremely dramatic. Super-critical subterranean fluid released in supersonic jets with sufficient energy and velocity to launch asteroids and comets, rapidly sliding continent-scale hydroplates, and rock buckling rapidly to create present-day mountains, is certainly not a scenario for the faint-hearted! The natural initial reaction of most readers -- both evolutionist sceptics and professing Christians encountering this for the first time -- is to laugh at the apparent absurdity and throw the book away.

But readers with a solid technical background who resist this impulse will be rewarded by being challenged to wrestle with some heavy-duty (well beyond industrial strength) engineering physics. To succeed, each individual component of Hydroplate Theory needs firstly to be shown to be consistent with known physical laws and secondly to be shown to be consistent with observed phenomena, and such laboratory or field scale experiments as it is possible to undertake. Some such experiments are described in the book. Numerous observed natural phenomena are referenced in support of the theory and the ability or inability of competing theories to explain them are compared. Particularly interesting in this respect are a number of tables with each row representing an observed phenomena and each column a competing theory.

The presentation of Hydroplate Theory is in "Part II: Fountains of the Great Deep." It brings all of the engineering sciences into play: fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, mechanics of materials, material science and chemistry, as well as celestial mechanics. Key numbers (inputs to and results from calculations) and diagrams are provided in the book. But many, if not most, of the detailed technical physics calculations necessary to confirm or deny the theoretical viability of the theory are left to the reader to undertake. Mechanical engineers, probably chemical engineers, maybe civil engineers, and capable physicists should be capable of undertaking such calculations. The book should be accepted as a genuine challenge by such readers.

Some readers may have prior assumptions (eg: the age of the earth or disbelief in the existence of the Creator) that act as a barrier to their acceptance of the initial conditions required for the Hydroplate Theory, even merely for the sake of making the calculations or following the reasoning presented on a 'what if' basis. "Part I: The Scientific Case for Creation" would seem to be intended for such readers. It presents very briefly, mostly in summary overview fashion, a compendium of grounds for rejecting evolutionary hypotheses. It is systematically arranged in three categories: the biosphere (the life sciences), the cosmos beyond the biosphere (the astronomical and physical sciences) and the realm below the biosphere (the earth sciences). Based on a once-through reading of Part I, a sceptical reader may not be persuaded, right there and then, to reject the wide gamut of evolutionary theories from the big bang to human evolution. However, it is sufficiently thorough and comprehensive to warrant a good faith reading of Part II, at least on the basis of 'what if' acceptance of the initial conditions.

Part III contains answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

This is a book for a general audience, characterised by approachable visualisations that most people can readily grasp to explain established physical phenomena. Sceptics who approach it in good faith and with an open mind will find plenty of material of both a theoretical and observational nature to challenge their explanations. Hydroplate Theory, first published in 1980 and refined and updated since, strikes this reviewer as the most robust candidate for a Young Earth Creationist (YEC) theoretical model of Creation, pre-Flood and post-Flood natural history consistent with (a) the Biblical account, (b) natural and experimental observed phenomena and (c) known physcial laws. But it is probably fair to say that it has not (or at least not yet) become THE standard YEC account. Nevertheless, YECs are likely to find it strengthens their views, while surprising them in a number of areas and prompting re-evaluation of some views.

As Dr Brown points out, multiple, parallel working hypotheses are a better basis for scientific inquiry than blind adherence to one single hypothesis or set of starting assumptions.

It's each individual's own responsibility to WEIGH THE EVIDENCE according to their own ability and understanding.

42 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable resource of scientific evidence and reasonin, May 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood (Hardcover)

Dr. Walter T. Brown, a retired MIT Prof, retired full Colonel from the Air Force, has written a book that is one of the best compilations of scientific evidences and reasonings regarding the origins question. One of the books great features is that it is about 30% quotes from well known and regarded scientists and publications. Another great feature is the surprisingly simple and logical explanations of current geophysical attributes that haven't been solidly explained by any current threories. Dr. Brown plainly outlines how that from a scienific point of view organic macroevolution lacks necessary physical evidence. Even more seriously, it lacks any concrete plausible mechanisms, as many of the people quoted in his book readily say. This book will give any open reader more than adequate material to really think about. To the closed reader, the sources quoted would be almost heroes, so he/she would really have a hard time arguing. I would especially encourage all opponents to an extranatural origin model to read this book. I would also highly engcourage any seeking student to read this to find out what science really knows, or professes to know. This book has had a tremendous impact on my life, especially my thought process and the way I view earth. This book will definitely make you think and possibly question what you believe and know, or think you know..

36 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a bit ahead of it's time, May 10, 2004

By 

Paul W. Robinson (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

Brown's book - based on his hydroplate theory - may be the most workable concept to date on creation. Both the creationist and naturalist schools of thought have unexplainable processes and historical gaps in their theories, leaving the conclusions drawn from the observable evidence very subject to the presuppositions brought to the table.

As an educator, I find Brown's method of explanation far superior to most science taught in schools - for he not only states his position based on the evidence, but often lists opposing and contradictory concepts.

Most objections to his book are from those who refuse to follow the evidence into the possibility of an extra-natural dimension, by itself an anti-scientific position, resulting in the ignoring of unresolvable contradictions inherent in the concept of evolution.

Brown has taught the slowing of the light/energy field for years and been dismissed for so doing, but recent studies (eg. Moffatt project, U of T) have placed this is the naturalist mainstream. C14 in Diamonds are naturalistically impossible, but predictable by his theory, and found in nature. The laboratory experiments reducing isochronometers to mere hundreds of years are also predictable from his theory and are just beginning to appear in science.

Like those that threw off the "mainstream scientific" false concepts of flat earth, spontaneous generation, etc - Brown follows in the footsteps of many of the great men of science by allowing that there are more forces at work in our universe than simply naturalistic ones, and it is only by allowing science to expand into the possibility of a supernatural origin to the universe that we can truly understand what it is and how it functions. Anything less circumscribes science and diminishes scientific understanding.

Brown appears to cling to a 6000 year earth - not a biblical concept but well entrenched - but in any event his theory still works well with an earth age of 15000 years or so.

All in all a valuable book to read regardless of your position. Brown's background as a MIT professor, and Earth Sciences professor at NASA give him a unique perspective not available to many, including his critics.

I have owned almost every edition and await eagerly the next.